Police `Thankful To Be Alive' After Shootout

Couple Denied Bail After Arrests On Five Counts Of Attempted First-degree Murder Of Officers

May 13, 1997|By C. RON ALLEN Staff Writer

WEST PALM BEACH — Within moments after Officer Mark Meyerowich rushed from his cruiser and sought cover behind his door, at least seven bullets rained on his vehicle.

One round went through the radiator, into the engine, ripped through the fire wall and ended up inside the car where Meyerowich would have been sitting.

Another bullet bored a two-inch hole in the hood, pierced the windshield and the mesh cage before it lodged in a rear door, missing the police dog in the back seat.

``They are just thankful to be alive,'' police spokeswoman Dena Peterson said on Monday. ``It's scary. The whole thing shook me up.''

None of the five officers and two Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies involved were hurt in Sunday's early-morning shootout when a man and his lover, armed with high-powered machine guns, sprayed police cruisers at a major intersection west of the city.

One suspect, Robert H. Martin, was wounded, police said. ``He came out of the truck, and he went right down on his face,'' Peterson said.

Martin, 47, of Royal Palm Beach was treated before being booked into the County Jail on five counts of attempted first-degree murder of a police officer, two counts of possession of a firearm while committing a felony and two counts of possession of a machine gun.

His companion, Lisa Reynolds, 38, was charged with assault with an assault rifle and possession of a machine gun. Police also charged her with one count of hate crime for making racial comments about the people she initially tried to attack.

Both suspects were denied bail on Monday.

The pair also might face federal weapons charges, said Agent Dan McBride of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

McBride said investigators think Martin illegally modified a semiautomatic rifle to create a fully automatic weapon. They also found a live, military-type hand grenade in his home, McBride said.

The confrontation began at 3:23 a.m. Sunday when Reynolds who is white, went to Tamarind Avenue and Seventh Street to scare some black drug dealers she claimed robbed her of jewelry last week, police said.

A dancer with at least eight aliases, Reynolds said ``she just wanted to get even,'' Officer Gregory Campbell said in his arrest report.

``Reynolds clearly expressed her dislike for the Negro race in this particular part of West Palm Beach,'' Campbell said.

Police have no record of any theft reported by Reynolds.

Two men told Campbell that Reynolds pointed a machine gun at them and fled in a Ford pickup when the pair saw a police cruiser.

The men stopped the officer to report the incident. The officer called for backup and followed the truck to Royal Palm Beach, where Martin stopped, cracked open his door and fired 75 rounds from a machine gun, police said.

That's when he struck Meyerowich's cruiser and disabled it. Officers returned fire.

Police said it was a miracle no one was seriously injured in the melee, which featured an exchange of more than 100 rounds of bullets.

``Had it been sometime in the evening or daytime, when people would be out at the intersection, there would have been a lot more people injured,'' said Capt. Michael McClure.

At least one sheriff's cruiser was also hit, and stray bullets also struck a nearby home, McClure said.

Never in the history of the Police Department have they experienced anything like Sunday, officers said.